Etain-Rouvres military airfield
| Base d'Étain-Rouvres Étain-Rouvres Air Base |
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|---|---|
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| Characteristics | |
| ICAO code | LFQE |
| Coordinates | |
| Height above MSL | 234 m (768 ft ) |
| Transport links | |
| Distance from the city center | 2 km east of Etain |
| Street |
N 18 14 km to the 
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| Basic data | |
| opening | 1937 |
| operator | ALAT |
| surface | 500 ha |
| Start-and runway | |
| 01/19 | 2400 m × 45 m asphalt |
The Base d'Étain-Rouvres is a military airfield of the French Army Aviation ( Aviation légère de l'armée de terre ). The base is in the Lorraine region in the Meuse department east of Étains, for the most part in the commune of Rouvres-en-Woëvre , around 40 kilometers west of Metz . It is a home base for transport and attack helicopters .
history
The base of Etain-Rouvres was built in 1937 in the period of armament in the run-up to World War II for the French air forces ( Armée de l'air ) . The airfield served as a base for some Bloch MB.131 reconnaissance aircraft.
After the outbreak of war, Hawker Hurricane of the 73rd Squadron of the Royal Air Force moved to Etain in October 1939 , and they used it until May 1940, before the airfield was taken by the advancing Wehrmacht . Later in the war, which used Air Force base as a military airfield . In March / April 1944 Bf 109G of the III. Jagdgeschwader 26 group (III./JG 26). A few kilometers north of the airfield, west of Spincourt , the Senon field airfield still existed at that time , which at the end of August 1944 was taken by the Bf 109G of the III. Gruppe des Jagdgeschwader 3 (III./JG 3) was used.
After the liberation of the area by the Allies, the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) used Airfield Verdun / Etain or Airfield A.82 , its allied code name. From the middle of September 1944, it was initially used as a transshipment point for Douglas C-47 flights for a few weeks and was then provisionally prepared for flight operations by combat units. The main user between the beginning of November 1944 and April 1945 was the 362d Fighter Group of the Ninth Air Force . Their three P-47 Thunderbolt squadrons were used, among other things, to repel the German Ardennes offensive . In addition to the "Thunderbolts", the Northrop P-61 Black Widow - night fighters of the 425th Night Fighter Squadron used the Verdun / Etain airfield during the same period, which was reinforced in the first six weeks of 1945 by a detachment of the 416th .
Etain-Rouvres Air Base
In the first few years after the end of the war, the airfield remained unused, but after the start of the Cold War in May 1952 it was proposed as a future NATO airfield and used by the United States Air Force . An American advance command arrived in February 1953, and although the expansion dragged on until 1956, the new base became the home of the 388th Fighter-Bomber Wing in December 1954 , whose three F-86F squadrons were initially operated by Hahn , Spangdahlem and respectively until autumn 1955 . Bitburg from operated.
The conversion to the F-100D / F Super Saber began in late 1956 and in December 1957 the 388th became the 49th Fighter-Bomber Wing . In the following year, nuclear-capable US carrier systems were to leave France, so that the 49th Tactical Fighter Wing , which has been its name since July 1958, relocated to Spangdahlem in August 1959. Today (2013) this squadron is still in Europe, namely in Lakenheath, England .
In the following two years, aviation use ceased and the property was used by US Army units from nearby Verdun . As a result of the Berlin crisis , aviation use began again, initially from November 1961 by the 166 Tactical Fighter Squadron (TFS) of the 121st Tactical Fighter Wing (TFW) of the Ohio Air National Guard (ANG) equipped with F-84F Thunderstreak . The squadron, which was renamed the 7121st Tactical Wing in December , also carried out a NATO squadron exchange with Fighter Bomber Wing 36 from Hopsten , with German fighter planes operating from a French base again for the first time after the end of the war. The following summer, the ANG staff was withdrawn and the 391st TFS was formed with regular USAF staff , which was subordinate to the 366th TFW in Chaumont-Semoutiers . The squadron was finally moved to Holloman in July 1963 , which ended the permanent stationing of USAF airborne units.
The 1st Squadron of the Royal Canadian Air Force from Marville then occasionally used Etain airfield as a USAF reserve base and after the expulsion of US troops announced by President de Gaulle in 1966, USAF use ended on March 15, 1967.
Base d'Etain-Rouvres
The former US air base was then to become the base for French army aviators , initially from the beginning of 1968 home of the 4e Groupe d'aviation légère divisionnaire (GALDIV 4). Initially, only one SA318 “Alouette II” helicopter squadron belonged to the group. In the summer of 1968 a second Alouette II squadron and another with SA319 "Alouette III" equipped squadron could be set up.
In November 1972, a first SA330B "Puma" squadron was also set up and in the run-up to a planned reorganization, another maneuvering helicopter squadron (EHM) equipped with the "Puma" was added in mid-July 1977. The Alouette II had already been replaced in 1976 by the SA341 "Gazelle" .
On August 1, 1977, the 3e régiment d'hélicoptères de combat (3e RHC), two seasons SA341, one season SA319 and two seasons SA330 emerged with five flying squadrons by renaming the GALDIV 4 . In 1979, “Gazelles” of the 3rd regiment were the first to be equipped with HOT missiles. At the end of 1983 part of the SA341 and all "Alouette III" were replaced by the SA342 for two seasons.
In the 1990s the regiment was deployed in the Gulf , Yugoslavia and Rwanda . In 1998 a "Gazelle" squadron was disbanded and just two years later a squadron of Mistral - "Gazelles" was set up.
Todays use
The base currently (2019) houses a regiment of the French land forces:
- 3e régiment d'hélicoptères de combat , combat helicopter regiment , consisting of 5 flying squadrons and equipped with around 40 helicopters of the types SA341 / 342 Gazelle and SA330 Puma , since 1977, NH90 are not expected until 2020 at the earliest